# Anybody seen "Beware the Slenderman" HBO doc? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230 "2017-01-26T15:28:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/1 "2017-01-26T15:28:36Z")
I’d love to discuss this doc! What a bizarre situation… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/2 "2017-01-26T22:25:30Z")
The only HBO I have is Horrible Body Odor. Sorry. I consider myself a Home Brew Ombudsman, however. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/3 "2017-01-26T23:55:45Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > The only HBO I have is Horrible Body Odor. Sorry. > > I consider myself a Home Brew Ombudsman, however. I sooooo need to live near you and drink beer on the front porch! 😃 BTW: thanks for advice on JGC, have some folks test driving this weekend. Well, I guess I’m the only person on Earth that has seen the documentary. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/4 "2017-01-27T00:06:50Z")
Is this about the schlub who created “Faceless Jack Skellington,” the internet culture around “Faceless Jack Skellington,” or the two teenage girls who stabbed another girl in the name of “Faceless Jack Skellington”? Or is it indeed about “Faceless Jack Skellington” and therfore is in no factual and the word “documentary” has lost all meaning and credibility. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/5 "2017-01-27T00:22:22Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > Well, I guess I’m the only person on Earth that has seen the documentary. Could be. I only posted 'cause I didn’t want your OP to be lonely. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/6 "2017-01-27T01:03:57Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > Is this about the schlub who created “Faceless Jack Skellington,” No, no… you’re thinking of Slender Man. This is Slenderman. As in Elijah Slenderman. I believe he’s a tax attorney. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/7 "2017-01-27T01:15:00Z")
Maybe I’ll look at it tonight. Is it worth the time? ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/8 "2017-01-27T01:33:57Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Maybe I’ll look at it tonight. Is it worth the time? I thought it was disturbing and well-made, it’s about two 12yo girls who believe the Slenderman internet ghoul meme is real and they try to kill their friend as a sacrifice to him (so he doesn’t kill their own families). The structure is much like that of “Making a Murderer” and raises similar questions about determining the mental competence of disturbed kids. Oddly enough, this crime happened in the same area of Wisconsin as “Murderer” did. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/9 "2017-01-27T01:36:13Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Could be. I only posted 'cause I didn’t want your OP to be lonely. And this is why you’re my fave Escaped Cat 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/10 "2017-01-27T04:07:50Z")
I thought it was a very good documentary. There were some stylistic choices that annoyed me but those choices stopped about half-way through and they weren’t all that distracting overall. It was really well balanced - which surprised me. I expected that the attackers were be demonized - but they weren’t. I expected that creepypasta would be demonized - but it wasn’t. I would have liked to learn a bit more about the victim - Payton (Bella) but, in the end, she didn’t matter to the story told. Not that she was irrelevant but that she could, really, have been anyone. To focus on her and her innocence would have served to demonize the attackers - Morgan and Anissa - and that didn’t seem to be that point. I’m not really sure what the point was. That isn’t a bad thing. It made me think. I was made to think about my childhood and why I didn’t turn out like them. It made me think about the effect of “media” on susceptible kids. It made me think about the balance between public safety and “moral” justice. I came away from it with a sense of “why?” How does this happen? Why do so many kids that are in similar circumstances not do similar things? The cool thing is that the doc makers don’t ever pretend to try to offer answers. For the most part they present an overview of what all lead up to this tragedy but they don’t even try to push an answer. Definitely worth watching and certainly thought provoking. Thank-you for posing the question. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/11 "2017-01-27T21:25:08Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > Oddly enough, this crime happened in the same area of Wisconsin as “Murderer” did. Nah, Manitowoc and Waukesha are about 100 miles apart. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/12 "2017-01-27T23:28:54Z")
I liked it. While watching it I was rollercoastering back and forth on my opinions of the two girls, which of course was intentional on the filmmaker’s part. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/13 "2017-01-27T23:50:00Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I liked it. > > While watching it I was rollercoastering back and forth on my opinions of the two girls, which of course was intentional on the filmmaker’s part. Is there a way to watch it without having HBO? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2017, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/14 "2017-01-28T04:28:54Z")
I watched “The Witness” on PBS about the Kitty Genevese murder, and can highly recommend it, for those of us without HBO and shitty internet service. Hey, MurderPorn is all good, man! ---
**Author:** ![Private\_Bin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@Private\_Bin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Private_Bin)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-beware-the-slenderman-hbo-doc/778230/15 "2017-02-01T05:38:13Z")
Just watched it, thought it was really good! I actually liked all those cheesy fright effects in the first half. Weirdest thing about it is that a 12 year old girl was referencing Napoleon XIV on her youtube channel. That’s not right.